Danish documentarists at IDFA Amsterdam

Press release20.11.2002
A team of Danish
documentarists, producers, promotion and sales managers will attend the
International Documentary Film Festivial (IDFA) opening 22 November in
Amsterdam. In 2001 Danish documentary film was endowed with IDFA's
principal award, the Joris Ivens Award for Phie Ambo and Sami Saif's
feature length film "Family". This year at Amsterdam Phie Ambo will be
participating as a member of IDFA's prestigious International
Jury.
Danish documentary films
participating in the various programmes are as follows:
Jørgen Leth's Bech and
Angel produced "New Scenes from America" will compete in the SILVER WOLF
COMPETITION. This film, shot in September 2001, is a follow-up on Leth's
1981 film "66 Scenes from America". Appearances are made by poet John
Ashbery, composer John Cale, actor Dennis Hopper and photographer Robert
Frank. John Anderson of Newsday described the film as "a subjective, New
York-centric, eccentric tour of the United States that ... doesn't need to
please, doesn't strive to, but simply goes about its business (or art)
...".
The programme REFLECTING
IMAGES has selected two documentaries: Jesper Jargil's "The
Purified", a film which challenges the four Dogme directors, their
faith in and evasions of their own dogma; and Phie Ambo's "Growing Up
in a Day", a story about two siblings in Zambia whose lives suddenly take
a turn, changing their destiny dramatically.
The children's film
programme KIDS & DOCS have selected three films: "Miga's
Journey" by René Bo Hansen, a compelling story about street children in
Ulaan Baatar, the capital of Mongolia, and a young boy's search for his
sister. "Little Hands" by Katrine Talks, who shares with her audience the
silent world of deaf children and their remarkable language. "See My
World" by Jens Bangskjær, about a day in the life of a seven-year-old
girl. Bangskjær's film belongs to a series of films for and about children
around the world; films designed to familiarize children with the lives of
their peers in other countries.
Two films will be
pitched at FORUM (Europe's largest gathering of television commissioning
editors and independent documentary producers): Rasmus Thorsen of Cosmo
Film and director Jeppe Rønde's project "The Jerusalem Syndrome", which
delves, on the one hand, into the uncompromising nature of faith found in
Jerusalem, and on the other, into the nature of faith itself. Thomas
Stenderup of Final Cut Production and director Frode Højer Pedersen will
pitch Holmboe, a story that attempts to trace the fate of adventurer and
idealist Knud Holmboe who disappeared in the desert on his way to Mecca in
1931.
At Amsterdam the Danish
Film Film Institute will be promoting six films at DOCS FOR SALE, five of
the above titles as well as Katrine Østlund Jacobsen's Barok Film produced
"Night Walker" which dwells on the memories and nocturnal life of a
retired circus queen.
The hard-hitting
realistic South African-Danish co-production "When the War is Over",
directed by Francois Verster and produced by Undercurrent Film &
Television and the Danish company Tju-Bang Film, will be competing in the
Silver Wolf Competition alongside Jørgen Leth's film "New Scenes from
America". Verster's film has also been supported by the Danish Film
Institute.
The DFI's magazine FILM
#25 is now published. This is a special issue in English,
published as an accompaniment to the promotion of Danish
documentaries at the Amsterdam festival. This magazine is available at the
web-address below.
Together with producers,
directors and sales agents, the DFI team promoting documentary film at
festivals worldwide - Anne Marie Kürstein and Annette Lønvang - will be
present at the European Film Market to assist you in any way
possible. We wish you a warm welcome at screenings of Danish
documentaries in Amsterdam.
For further
informationDFI Amsterdam site: www.dfi.dk/sitemod/moduler/index_english.asp?pid=12290
Festivals
Anne Marie Kürstein t +45 3374 3609 kurstein@dfi.dkAnnette Lønvang t +45
3374 3437 annettel@dfi.dk
Press and
InformationLars Fiil-Jensen t +45 3374 3559 larsfj@dfi.dkAgnete Dorph Stjernfelt t
+45 3374 3505 agnetes@dfi.dkVicki
Synnott t +45 3374 3438 vickis@dfi.dk